After years of war, drought and rule by the repressive Taliban regime,
Afghanistan faces a major humanitarian crisis. In particular, the most
vulnerable Afghans -- the more than 10 million children -- are suffering.

Americans are concerned about the welfare of Afghan children and
wish to reinforce the fact that America's actions are focused on
destroying a terror network and are not directed against the innocent
people and children of Afghanistan.

In response to the outpouring of humanitarian concern by Americans,
the President has announced the creation of "America's Fund for Afghan
Children ," which will encourage children and their families to
contribute to relief efforts for Afghan children. In
particular, it is hoped that the children of America will be inspired
to make contributions of one dollar -- or whatever they can give --
which can be sent individually or collectively to the Fund.

The new Fund builds on the recent announcement by President Bush of
$320 million in additional aid to help meet the food and relief needs
of Afghans this winter.

The Plight of the Afghan Children

More than 10 million children in Afghanistan have suffered under
years of civil war and drought and now suffer under the repressive
Taliban regime:

Afghanistan ranks number one worldwide in maternal
mortality.

One in four Afghan children will not make it
to their fifth birthday.

One in three Afghan children is
an orphan.

Almost 1/2 of Afghan children suffer chronic
malnutrition.

Millions face the threat of starvation.

Building on a History of Success

The President's new initiative to assist Afghan children is modeled
on the original 1938 March of Dimes campaign from the Roosevelt
Administration. In that successful campaign, President Franklin
Roosevelt appealed to American children to each donate a dime to help
eradicate polio. The effort succeeded not only in raising
funds for the effort that defeated polio, but also in generating
significant interest among American youth at helping others in
need. The original campaign was a grassroots effort,
supported by the leadership of the President of the United States.

How the Program Will Work

Just like President Roosevelt's program, children will send their
contributions to the White House. Contributions will be sent
to:

The White House has created a special zip code to help identify and
expedite donations to the Fund. The White House will send
the contributions to the American Red Cross (ARC), which will
administer the program. To ensure maximum coordination with the
humanitarian relief effort, the Administrator of the U.S. Agency for
International Development (USAID) will consult with the American Red
Cross on disbursements from the Fund.

The American Red Cross will use its existing fundraising and
administrative structure to process the contributions and manage the
fund, assume accountability for its appropriate use (in consultation
with USAID), post the results of the effort on its official web site
and provide ongoing updates to the White House.

The American Red Cross will aid Afghan children through direct
programs in the region, as well as through the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the appropriate Red Cross and Red Crescent
national societies. The American Red Cross will also provide grants to
other organizations engaged in charitable works for Afghan
children. Through these programs, needed food, shelter and
medicines will be provided to the children of Afghanistan.

The Fund will help not only Afghan children living in Afghanistan
but also those who are now refugees in neighboring
countries. The ARC will use its existing fundraising and
administrative structure to receive donations and will manage the Fund
in an account segregated from their other operating
accounts. The ARC will absorb all overhead costs so that
every dollar contributed by the American people to the Fund will
directly benefit Afghan children.